Genesis - WInd & Wuthering (1976)

Dan:

Wind & Wuthering was the second of two albums issued by Genesis in 1976. Like Trick of the Tail, W&W was recorded by a quartet, with Phil Collins handling the vocal responsibilities vacated by Peter Gabriel. The new drama surrounding this album was conflict over songwriting credits and the pending departure of guitarist Steve Hackett - W&W would be Hackett's last as a member of Genesis. Hackett's solo career had already begun with the release of Voyage of the Acolyte the preceding year, so his departure was not a surprise.

It's common to read interpretations of the music on W&W that are reflective of the tensions within the band. Certainly, Hackett was unhappy that he shared writing credits on only four of the nine cuts and none of his individual songs were included. In addition, there isn't much guitar featured; Tony Banks' synthesizers had taken over as the lead melodic voice. How could a such a great band not self-destruct and produce an album full of flaws related to ego conflicts? If you only read about the album, instead of listening to it, you might expect an aural disaster. The rather dismal album cover might reinforce low expectations.

Fortunately, W&W again shows the resilience of Genesis in rising to the occasion and producing another great album. Except for "Wot Gorilla," side 1 of the LP flows nicely with two strong numbers - "Eleventh Earl of Mar" and "One for the Vine" - setting up the pop-like hit "Your Own Special Way." I like all of these songs and don't find the absence of Hackett solos to be a problem. Side 2 continues in the same vein, highlighted by "Blood on the Rooftops," penned by Collins and Hackett, and the closing "Afterglow," written by Banks. Thematically, much of the English ennui from Selling England by the Pound is revisited, as the protagonists in the songs lament social decay and the plight of common men and women. But it's still beautiful in part because it's honest and sad. 

A few years ago, Steve and I did a sonic comparison of the original CD, a remastered CD, and a late LP pressing. As I expected, the LP won. There are details and nuances heard on the LP that the CDs do not render, and the digital versions especially do not favor synthesizers. I'm happy to have both a rip of the remastered CD and the old vinyl copy.

Steve:

While overall Wind & Wuthering fails to match A Trick of the Tail in quality, it does feature tracks that foreshadow some of my favorite aspects of their first two post-Hackett albums, And Then There Were Three and Duke. "Eleventh Earl of Mar", the album opener, is the best example of this. The keyboards are dominant and layered, the chord changes are rapid and complex, and Mike Rutherford keeps right up with Banks with his contrapuntal bass lines and quick-strummed rhythm guitar. Phil Collins gives all this potential confusion plenty of rhythmic drive. Steve Hackett can only occasionally be heard in the background, except for a bridge section in the middle that he contributed himself. While I'm sure it was painful at the time, I doubt that any of the parties involved still have regrets about his decision to leave the band; as I mentioned in the Trick of the Tail review, he had plenty of talent to hack it (ha ha) on his own, which he did, with a still-thriving solo career.

Not that Hackett doesn't provide some key moments on this album. In addition to "Blood on the Rooftops", which Dan wrote about above, his compositional and instrumental touch is definitely felt on the penultimate track, the instrumental "Unquiet Slumbers for the Sleepers.... In That Quiet Earth", my favorite track on the album. After a long opening atmospheric section sounding like gathering storm clouds, Hackett delivers soaring guitar melodies over a racing 9/8 pulse, before the piece crashes back down to Earth with a nasty, slow 4/4 beat and syncopated power chords (I almost called it funky, but "Genesis" and "funky" just don't belong together in the same sentence - safer to keep it inside this parenthetical phrase).  

I also have to praise "Afterglow", proving Tony Banks' prowess with uncomplicated, sincere and resonant love songs, a style he would return to in subsequent years. Concluding the album with that song, fading in after the tumult of "Unquiet Slumbers...", was an inspired choice, inasmuch as "Afterglow" describes the aftermath of a disaster, but uses that premise to emphasize how the experience only intensifies our love and care for what and who really matter to us. Nice. It came out so well that they would conclude their next album with "Follow You, Follow Me", another gentle love song, which became their first big hit single. 

The rest is history. Genesis and especially Phil Collins became so omnipresent on the charts in the 1980s that I recall reading an interview with Phil in which he said something to the effect of, "Even I was getting sick of hearing me everywhere."

Genesis - A Trick of the Tail (1976)

Steve:

A Trick of the Tail is one of the best examples of "coming through in the clutch" in progressive rock history. Following several years of the band gaining incredible momentum as one of the leading originators and guiding lights in progressive rock itself, frontman Peter Gabriel shocked everyone by deciding to leave the band. He had just guided the band through its most ambitious project yet, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, one of the most thematically complex and fascinating concept albums I have ever heard. With A Trick of the Tail, any doubts as to the viability of the band without Gabriel were quickly put to rest with what many people (myself included) still consider one of their finest efforts.  

If anything, the departure of Gabriel emphasized the incredible technical skill and abundant compositional imagination that each member of the band brought to the table. What most fans didn't know was that Peter Gabriel was not the most prolific composer in the band, and that the band still had keyboardist Tony Banks, bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford, guitarist Steve Hackett, and drummer Phil Collins at their creative peaks. Banks and Rutherford (arguably the most prolific composers in the band) continued to deliver their sophisticated chord changes, and extended compositional forms, produced in a way that was no longer subservient to the lyrical concepts of the Gabriel era. I would also argue that A Trick of the Tail is the most sonically impressive Genesis album to date. I often put on "Dance on a Volcano" as an audiophile test-piece, as when I purchased a new amplifier for my stereo system last year. It's a hell of a way to start an album, and one of the most impressive pieces of their career. 

Steve Hackett was given a bit more room to shine on this album compared to The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, but it's pretty clear that he is still underutilized. His finest contribution is what might be my favorite track on the album, the rich psychedelic folk harmony-feast of "Entangled", co-written with Tony Banks. Hackett's unique guitar tone also provides "Dance on a Volcano" and "Los Endos" with much of their power. In retrospect it's not surprising that he would leave the band the following year for a solo career, and this defection turned out to work well for everyone involved. Hackett had too much talent and creative fire to be "third banana" in Genesis, and his solo career remains fruitful and productive to this day. In addition to a steady stream of new original material, he has done more than any other Genesis member to present the band's groundbreaking early material in a live concert setting. Banks, Collins, and Rutherford, of course, would fill the 1980s with some of the best-selling Genesis albums in their history.

As for Phil Collins, today he is a household name, but at the time he was the last person people expected to fill the lead singer slot in the band. Reportedly, about 100 applicants were auditioned before the band decided to go with Collins, which was an inspired albeit risky decision. As the band's drummer, it would be difficult for him to fill the "frontman" shoes vacated by Gabriel. To compensate for this, Collins drummed in the studio for the albums, but for live shows Chester Thompson (recently of Frank Zappa's band) played as a backup drummer, leaving Collins free to work the crowd as needed. Collins also helped continue Gabriel's legacy for story-songs, playing a multiplicity of characters on "Robbery, Assault and Battery". In addition to shouldering the additional vocal/frontman duties, Collins contributed some of his finest drumming on this record as well. "Dance on a Volcano" alone deserves its own exhibit in the imaginary Drummers' Hall of Fame. 

In all, a phenomenal album, and one that exceeded all expectations, considering the band's major shift in personnel. Even fans who bemoan the loss of Peter Gabriel and whine about Phil Collins mostly agree that A Trick of the Tail is on the same level as Genesis' earlier peak years.

Dan:

As I was discovering Genesis back in the early 80s, I found it rather easy to settle on my favorites. Selling England by the Pound is my top choice, followed closely by A Trick of the Tail. I have a dozen of their albums in my collection (thanks to Steve), including some from the 80s and early 90s, and I don't think I've missed anything (not even the dismal Calling All Stations... from 1997). So I'm pretty sure about my personal ranking. After the top two, I would go to Wind & Wuthering and work backwards toward Trespass before moving forward in time toward And Then There Were Three. 

This is a roundabout way to proclaim my admiration for A Trick of the Tail. I don't miss Gabriel; Collins' is an excellent singer especially on slower-tempo songs like "Entangled," "Mad Man Moon," and "Ripples." The orchestral-like arrangements on the album enhance his vocals beautifully. I also love the whimsey relating to the storyline, especially the narrative about Squonk encountering humans who, surprisingly, have no tails. The sadness of the trapper opening up the sack and finding only a pool of tears is poignant. I'm not sure that all of the narratives relate to each other, but I don't really care. The album plays coherently from start to finish and is, in the final analysis, a brilliant work of prog art. Bravo to Phil and the survivors!

Genesis - Selling England by the Pound (1973)

Dan:

After moving to Miami in 1977, I kept hearing about a band named Genesis, like they were something special. As I read about them, one reviewer maligned their music as "ponderous Medieval suites." I took that as a positive and began investigating more deeply. 

I began with Trespass. Indeed, it was a Medieval suite replete with murderous wolves and threatening knives. I liked it. The following album, Foxtrot, was even stranger judging from the cover that pictured a red-dressed woman with a fox's head standing on a floe surrounded by sharks. Nursery Cryme also had disturbing cover art: a croquet-playing child poised to swing her mallet at decapitated heads. 

Despite their gruesome covers and themes, each LP contains great prog compositions, including gentler songs like "Time Table" from Foxtrot, "Harlequin" and "For Absent Friends" from Nursery Cryme, and "Visions of Angels" from Trespass. Each of these earlier albums tell compelling musical stories that helped to shape the emerging genre of progressive rock. 

Phil Collins had been with Genesis through all of the aforementioned albums (save Trespass), and frequently sang harmony vocals behind Peter Gabriel. He was given a rare lead vocal spot on Selling England by the Pound, on which he sang the brief "More Fool Me." Soon he would take over the band and adopt a more pop style, leading to outrage among dedicated fans but more album sales and popularity. I won't weigh in on that overworked controversy.

To my ears, Selling England by the Pound, is the best Genesis album. That's NOT because the earlier and subsequent albums were flawed in any way, but because Selling England is so good. It combines the narrative approach but anchors it in more contemporary English life. It includes the accustomed theme of conflict - "The Battle of Epping Forest" - which refers to a real park that is literally just outside many Londoners' doors. A modern version of Romeo and Juliet is the subject of "Cinema Show". The four lengthier tracks are superb in design and execution, beginning with the opener "Dancing with the Moonlight Knight," which nods to the Medieval themes of previous albums. 

"Firth of Fifth" is a masterpiece, highlighted by one of the most perfectly constructed guitar solos I've ever heard. It's not an improvised solo, of course, since Steve Hackett plays the same notes in live versions of the song. "Firth" also contains the best lyrics I've heard from Genesis, especially the closing line: "The sands of time were eroded by the river of constant change." 

Also noteworthy is "Cinema Show" which segues into "Aisle of Plenty" to close the album. I remember sitting with Steve after a long car trip. At home, I put on my Classic Records pressing of Selling England, side 2 as requested because Steve liked "Cinema Show" the best. I had to agree with the choice, even though I usually played side 1 to hear "Firth." Steve also clued me into the source of the deep bass notes that add to the drama of "Firth of Fifth;" he said they were pedals. I never knew what they were except I was sure they were not simply electric bass notes. Nice to have a living prog encyclopedia in the family!

Steve:

Like many people of my generation, my first exposure to Genesis was hearing their numerous late 70s and early 80s hits on the radio. Abacab, Three Sides Live, and Genesis were all extremely popular among my peer group, and I rarely heard any mention that there was a band before "Follow You, Follow Me". I was fully on board with this crowd (and for the record, I still enjoy the Collins years as much as I do the Gabriel years). Of course, I was aware of the Peter Gabriel era (Peter himself was making hits at the time as well) because I would see these oddly Medieval looking earlier albums in the record stores. At the time, seeing a track on an album such as "Supper's Ready" with its multiple sections and 23-minute length was decidedly not a selling point for me. I can still remember what it felt like to be neither impressed by nor interested in the supposed selling points of progressive rock, and that memory has helped me understand the mindset of average folks for whom majesty, complexity, and musical ambition really doesn't matter much. I still liked what I liked, and I was certainly exposed to a lot of progressive music thanks to Dan, but it wasn't something I was actively seeking at that age.

I got a fairly good introduction to the Gabriel-era stuff via Dan, which prepared me for the full-on obsession come my college years, where I had a similarly curious friend to discover prog with (Rob, mentioned elsewhere in this blog). Selling England by the Pound is widely considered to be one of the elite prog albums in the genre's entire history. Progarchives.com currently lists it as the #2 album of all time, based on an algorithm primarily driven by user ratings and reviews. I had not looked at the rankings for over a decade prior to writing that last sentence, yet I was confident that this album's stature would not have changed since that time.  

Even music fans not particularly into prog hold it in high regard. I believe this is because of the poetic yet approachable lyrics and the fact that the band had reached a peak in its ability to compose and arrange lengthy songs that told a story apart from (but in tandem with) the lyrics. Simply put, this album is surprisingly accessible and deals with very human emotions, fears, and concerns. The overriding theme, I believe, is that of wistful regret over a Britain that somehow lost its way - with vivid character studies of everyday people in a variety of settings, my favorite being the eccentric man obsessing over his lawn while wondering where it all went wrong in "I Know What I Like (in Your Wardrobe)".  

I still have a hard time following "The Battle of Epping Forest", the one song that is forever singled out as a weak spot on the record. Its only flaw, however, is that it makes you work a little harder to enjoy it - in contrast with the rest of the record, which goes down as easily as a nice cup of tea.